December in Sevilla

 Went to the "theater" tonight for a magic show. The audience skewed much younger (many under ten in the front rows so they could see the show without tall people in front of them.) The magician was funny and his sleight of hand was very good. We got a lot of good laughs and some impressively executed tricks from a standard repertoire. Rings, cards, scarves, ropes etc.Turned out to be a fun ninety+  minutes. The photos are things seen along the way - starting with the carrousel in the Plaza Magdalena just four minutes from our house. 

One of our closest plazas now in holiday market mode. It is somewhat disconcerting to see oranges ripening on the trees when the chestnuts are roasting in the plazas. 

And we thought off-Loop theaters in Chicago ran on shoe strings. I think this one rents from the pigeons in the attic #uprootedtheaterSevilla

The magician was funny. His sleight of hand was well done and he worked well with the younger audience (it was billed as a family performance.) 

 above - poor Bethany... the person volunteered by her friends and children to be the one to perform with the magician LOL.

After the magic show we stopped for dinner at a place that had always looked too touristy to us. However we once had an excellent meal at its "sister" restaurant CUNA2 while here for language immersion, so we took a chance. The food was really great. So great we plan to return. Phil had the pork cheeks and langoustinos in garlic oil and foie to start. I had a salad and then calamari. No dessert as we were full. Then we walked home through the city - which is fully in holiday lights mode!

The lights are everywhere in the city center- these were just some from the walk home...

The next night - Monday - we went to La Brunilda and ordered way too much food- guess we were missing Spanish food after a week in Paris LOL (not!)  Oops missed the arroz con pato - the last course... Oh well. I'm sure there are other photos from a prior visit to La Brunilda. Standard ordering of queso costeño and tacos then went off pattern to get the ensaladilla and the chiparon and buñelos de bacalao. Phil finished with the arroz which is in his rotation.

Tuesdays are eat at home nights - I cook while Phil is in his 8-9:30 class and we eat afterward... tonight a new recipe for baked parmesan chicken - we'll see....LOL - later in the week we have Augurio and then to a new place to try YO. a little leery of this one as it is a replacement for a place we went in our first month during language immersion and found very disappointing. But Michelin just recognized it so we will give it a chance.... so  more to follow. 

in between going and going

The same night we got home from Cádiz we had dinner with Helena and Lope, at Tradevo to celebrate Helena's 21st birthday (the night before the actual day)

We had a lovely evening just hanging out with our new friends and stopped at MITO on the way home. 

The next night we dined at home, (and I make this a separate line because some people think we never eat at home LOL)

Then the following night we went to La Cayetana.  Generally, you can't go wrong at La Cayetana. True that night, but for the presa, which was one course too many.  It also wasn't all that tempting. Everything else was perfect and the arroz was so meaty.  We didn't miss the presa course, barely took a taste of it.  (Still had room for MITO)

and of course we stopped at MITO on the way home but it was inferior service as the woman, Marina, was a bad ice cream scooper...LOL

Then the week rolled to an end and we had Friday night dinner at Petit Comité. Despite storms coming through Andalucia, that killed 3 in our area and 4 in Huelva to the south, the crowds were out in force tonight. Everyone is done waiting for spring and is just going on as if it is already here. We headed to Petit Comité for a to quick meal. The restaurant comped the foie and duck bites and a nice champagne because they had to rearrange tables due to high demand.  We ended up in this strange little room between the dining rooms and the bar (which was all high tops). I had the orzo salad (which was luckily still on the specials) and the salmon carpaccio.  Phil had the boquerones and the duck breast. We were both pleased with our choices. We skipped dessert and walked home through the back streets avoiding most of the rather raucous crowds. The "art work"was all in our dining room of our single table. 

So the weekend rolled around, and here we are on Sunday 12:30 AM - having spent our Saturday evening at a comedy show tonight. One of those "run on a shoestring" theater companies here in town. Five comedians Two men, two women and an emcee that was just as good as the four "acts". The emcee (Randa) and the last of the  guys (Nick) were the funniest but the whole evening was worth the journey to "north of the Setas". We will watch for more events there, as they sponsor a variety of the arts. Bonus: we had a chance to briefly catch up with Lauren Tucker, as well as meeting a lovely woman from the military base nearby, named Lavita. Laughed a lot. Then we headed to the original MING.  We had never eaten there but we got to say hello to Christina (who was our server for a year at MING2) Not too many dinner photos- but the meal was good - we had our favorite soups and MING fried rice and two mains - Phil had shrimp and I had beef with ginger.

 

Today - Sunday- is bagel brunch day so we will have a leisurely brunch and start packing in earnest for our two weeks away.  Dinner is scheduled for Augurio (hope we make it Phil is having some knee issues)

The sky is back to Sevillaño blue. This is the south facade of city hall. The whole area is now blocked off with boxes for the processions for Semana Santa. Chairs stacked along the tram tracks by the hundreds if not thousands. They have already begun the rerouting of traffic in the area. More than a million people come to Sevilla during Semana Santa (it is a religious pilgrimage of sorts but also a huge spectacle!) In preparation they have finished the Calle Zaragoza repaving project. And the repaving of fully half of Plaza Nueva. (Photo below). Spiffing up our already stunningly beautiful city.

Our freshly painted courtyard ...

We are in our last month here, we still have some Spanish bureaucracy to deal with  for the ID cards for our newly renewed visas - YAY!!!! through the end of 2026!!!! So we might be back in late June to do the pick up.  One appointment is at the end of April and then we need to return for the pick up of the IDs 30-45 days later... so more adventures await!